Chapter 45 The drunken boy's embrace was not warm, it even carried the chill of night...

The dark clouds dispersed, the moonlight filled the sky, rain pattered outside the pavilion, and inside, the aroma of wine, fruit, and incense filled the cool air.

Cui Ying, Xiao Shu, and Xiao Wan had been playfully bickering for a while, getting quite tipsy and laughing until they were weak all over. Their speech was slurred with drunkenness as they repeatedly begged for mercy: "Alright, alright, now we're all so beautiful that a hundred beauties in the palace pale in comparison! Everyone is the most beautiful one, let's not fight anymore, we can't fight anymore!"

Xiao Shu was also smiling, but when she looked at Cui Ying, her smile suddenly froze, and she stammered out, "Seven...seven..."

Cui Yingfei glared at her: "What are you tsk about? Still not convinced?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a cold, damp aura rise up behind her, dense and serpentine, like snakes slithering.

She subconsciously turned her head and looked up, her gaze meeting a pair of cold, icy black eyes.

Xiao Qiyu stood behind her, expressionless, his clothes half-wet, clinging to his shoulders and back, water droplets sliding down his jawline, as if he had just stepped out of the cold rain and mist, carrying a chill with him.

Cui Ying tapped her head and muttered to herself, "I must be really drunk. How did I even see that annoying Xiao Qiyu?"

As if to prove whether he was truly drunk or faking it, Cui Ying snapped his fingers at Xiao Qiyu, teasing him like a dog: "Come on, give me a smile."

Xiao Qiyu: "..."

Xiao Qiyu: "How long do you plan to drink?"

His voice wasn't loud; in fact, it could be described as calm. It was precisely this calm before the storm that made his tone even more somber and chilling.

Cui Ying felt a heavy, uncomfortable tightness in her chest from the smell of alcohol. She patted her chest and said, her lips sticky, "It's still early, what time is it?"

Xiao Qiyu's gaze was deep and unfathomable, and involuntarily fell on her hand patting her chest. Looking at the full curve that trembled slightly with the movement, his eyes darkened, and his voice was as cold as ice: "It's already three-quarters past midnight. It will be dawn soon."

Cui Ying pointed at him with her slender white finger, her eyes sparkling with a stubbornness and arrogance born of drunkenness: "Don't try to fool me. It's still early morning, and my mind is perfectly clear."

"If you don't sleep, no one else will either?" Xiao Qiyu's tone became more serious, and he glanced at Xiao Shu and Xiao Wan, who were already stunned and dared not utter a sound.

Xiao Shu shivered, jumped up as if waking from a dream, and hurriedly agreed, "Oh right, right! Now that you mention it, I am a little sleepy. It is indeed getting late, so let's go back first!"

She grabbed Qin Wan, who was staring blankly at Xiao Qiyu, and fled out of the pavilion in a panic.

Xiao Wan tucked the cat into her arms and quickly followed, saying, "Farewell, farewell. It's late and the dew is heavy. Seventh Brother and Seventh Sister-in-law, you should rest early too!"

Watching their retreating figures, Cui Ying swayed as she stood up and reached out to grab them, saying, "Hey, why are you all leaving? What happened to our promise to drink until we drop?"

Xiao Qiyu stood in front of her, his tall figure like an iron wall, blocking her path and preventing her from taking even a single step.

Enraged, Cui Ying raised her two already limp fists and pounded wildly on his chest: "Get out of my way!" Because of her unsteady steps, the force she exerted bounced back onto her body, and Cui Ying staggered and fell backward uncontrollably.

"Watch out!" Almost instinctively, Xiao Qiyu reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back sharply until their bodies were pressed together.

The boy's embrace was not warm; it even carried the coolness and dampness of the night rain, mixed with the refreshing scent of soapberry, layer upon layer.

Cui Ying looked up, her hazy eyes meeting those angry phoenix eyes.

"Why are you being so fierce?" she said softly, her words sticky and gentle, as if a feather were brushing against her, and she casually rolled her eyes upwards. "I hate it when you're being fierce."

Xiao Qiyu's heart skipped a beat, and the sounds of lingering rain and insects around him became blurred at that moment.

His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his once deep gaze became sincere and bright. He raised his hand and pinched the cheek of the girl in his arms, his tone awkward and annoyed: "If I'm not fierce, you can take me seriously?"

Do you even see me?

The raindrops falling from the eaves seemed to be broken yet connected, and the fragrance of flowers in the rain burst forth in the silent night.

Cui Ying's eyelids were heavy, and she couldn't understand what Xiao Qiyu was saying. She mumbled a "hmm..." and her head sank into Xiao Qiyu's arms, her breathing becoming long and shallow.

Xiao Qiyu remained stiff and motionless, afraid that the slightest movement would disturb the tranquility of the moment.

On the winding pebble path beneath the pavilion, Qin Wan was pulled a few steps by Xiao Shu, but couldn't help stopping and looking back at the Mandarin Duck Pavilion.

The flickering lamplight cast a shadow of the boy's tall and upright back.

She watched as the aloof and distant young man carefully tightened his arms around her, then bent down, one arm slipping under the slender lower back of the person in his arms, the other arm reaching under the back of her knees, and steadily and gently lifting the unconscious girl into his arms.

The girl's gorgeous shawl draped over the boy's arm, reaching to the ground, and gently brushed against the damp ground with each step he took.

It was an extremely ordinary scene, yet it made Qin Wan's eyes burn, as if she were glimpsing a secret and romantic moment between the couple, with them as the main characters and her merely an isolated outsider.

My heart felt as if it were being quietly clenched by an invisible hand, a sharp, aching sensation rising within me.

"Shanxian? What are you daydreaming about? Hurry up and go." Xiao Shu turned and called to her.

Qin Wan quickly lowered her eyes, concealing the turbulent emotions within them, and softly replied, "Coming." She glanced at the two people one last time before taking a step forward.

...

The next day, the rain stopped and the sky cleared.

As the saying goes, "One autumn rain brings a chill," and early autumn is the perfect time for nourishing the body. Madam Qin specially ordered the kitchen to stew a pot of cordyceps flower and pigeon soup, which was served at breakfast. The soup was steaming hot and the aroma was irresistible.

Xiao Shu was so tired from playing around last night that she didn't even bother to drink the soup. She propped her cheeks up with her hands, nodding her head like a chick pecking at rice, and drifted off to sleep.

Qin Shi was furious at her appearance and said coldly, "How old are you? Making a scene until midnight, you have no manners at all."

Xiao Shu, still grumbling from the morning, immediately retorted, "Where did I act crazy? I was just having a few drinks with my sisters in my own garden. The academy is so strict, I can barely breathe all day. And when I get home, I have to worry about this and that. You might as well suffocate me."

Qin raised an eyebrow, her gaze turning serious as she stared intently at Xiao Shu: "I only say one sentence, and you have ten or eight more to say. What, you think you've grown wings? You think I can't scold you?"

Xiao Shu was most afraid of being looked at so coldly by her mother. She immediately became frightened and got up tremblingly to slip away: "I'm very sleepy. I'll go back to my room and take a nap before eating. You don't need to keep me here."

Because it was in front of outsiders, Madam Qin suppressed her anger and ignored her. She reached out and put some food on Qin Wan's plate, her tone softening a bit: "Here, Shanxian, don't worry about her, eat this."

Qin Wan's eyes flickered as she looked away from Xiao Shu's retreating figure, her face displaying just the right amount of gentleness and consideration as she softly comforted her, "Aunt, don't be angry. My sister didn't mean it."

Qin snorted lightly: "Whether she has intentions or not, do you think I don't know? If your sister were half as well-behaved and sensible as you, I would be burning incense in gratitude."

"Actually, my sister is well-behaved by nature, it just depends on where she is," Qin Wan said softly. "Xunzi once said, 'Hemp growing among reeds will stand straight without support, and white sand mixed with mud will become black.'"

Qin sneered: "How could I not understand such a principle? There are living examples right in front of us. When she is with Xiao Liu, she still has some semblance of a girl. But when she is with Cui Ying, she goes crazy and no one can control her. I find it strange that she used to always have a long face and tell me bad things about Cui Ying, but now she is as close as sisters. She is moody one moment and cheerful the next, acting crazy."

Qin Wan took a sip of soup gently, her movements graceful, and replied softly, "My sister is doing well. She will get married sooner or later, and will only be further away from Seventh Sister-in-law. Aunt, there's no need to rush things."

She paused, then casually raised her eyes, looking at Madam Qin with clear eyes: "As for that seventh brother, someone like him, if he doesn't have a virtuous and steady person by his side to constantly advise and take care of him, he will truly have a hard time finding peace in the future."

Qin Shi paused in her chopsticks, glancing at Qin Wan out of the corner of her eye, and said meaningfully, "Their marriage was arranged by the Empress Dowager and strongly supported by the Old Madam. Even if Cui Ying has a hundred faults, she is still Qi Lang's lawfully wedded wife. Although I watched Qi Lang grow up, I am not his biological mother after all, and I don't have the ability to interfere in his life. Whether he is peaceful or not is the Old Madam's business, and has nothing to do with me."

Seeing Qin Wan's pale face, she picked up a piece of lightly tossed lettuce shreds with her chopsticks and placed it on the celadon plate in front of Qin Wan, saying earnestly, "It's not that your aunt doesn't love you, but what's done is done, so you shouldn't have any inappropriate thoughts. Lettuce is good for clearing heat and calming the mind, so eat more."

Qin Wan's knuckles were white as she gripped the white porcelain spoon handle, her eyes lowered.

After a long silence, as if summoning immense courage, she spoke cautiously, her voice barely audible, "But Seventh Brother is of extraordinary appearance and has a bright future. If I could stay by his side, even as a concubine—"

With a "smash!" Qin threw the chopsticks on the ground.

The maids and servants in the room fell silent, trembling with fear, and immediately knelt down.

Qin Wan, her face pale, rose and knelt down, burying her head deeply, not daring to make the slightest sound.

"You may be shameless, but I am."

Qin Shi’s icy voice rang out above Qin Wan’s head: “When I first brought you into the Marquis’s mansion, I had already planned to find you a husband. When the time comes, I can naturally provide you with a dowry so that others won’t look down on you.”

Looking at her niece's trembling eyelashes, Madam Qin felt even more disappointed: "It's true that your birth mother came from a humble background, but how can a daughter of the Qin family be a concubine? Even if you marry a poor farmer, you'll still be a proper lady of the house, and that won't disgrace the family. A concubine? Don't even think about it!"

Qin Wan's slender body trembled like a leaf, her voice trembling and choked with sobs: "I know I was wrong, Aunt, please calm down."

Tears streamed down her face as she urgently confessed, "Aunt knows that my aunt is incompetent and only ever complains to me. Although my stepmother treats me like her own daughter, she can't be as devoted as she is to my stepsisters. Only my aunt truly cares for me and plans for my future. I was foolish, and I will never dare to harbor such thoughts again. Please forgive me this time, Aunt..."

Qin sighed, her expression softening.

She could never forget the first time she met Qin Wan. He was such a small child, wearing a thin autumn jacket in the winter, with sleeves that were too short to reach his elbows. He didn't dare to breathe loudly in front of his stepmother and remained motionless like a frozen mouse.

If it weren't for her intervention, which allowed the child to be raised by her stepmother, she would have frozen to death with her birth mother in the back room, a place where even servants didn't live, many years ago.

Qin's face was cold, but her voice was no longer so sharp: "Get up, it's cold outside, the ground is chilly."

Qin Wan, tears streaming down her face, said, "My aunt is still angry, so I dare not get up."

Qin Shi couldn't bring herself to do it, so she helped Qin Wan up herself, wiped her tears with her own handkerchief, and sighed, "If you know you're wrong and can wake up in time to pull back from the brink, there's still hope."

Qin Wan nodded vigorously, gripping Qin Shi's hand as if it were a lifeline, fearing that Qin Shi might suddenly abandon her.

Looking at the tear stains on her face, Qin felt sorry for her and said, "Alright, stop crying. If you want to cry, eat first, then you'll have more energy to cry."

Qin Wan finally stopped crying and smiled, obediently sat down, and sipped her soup and ate her vegetables.

When he lowered his eyes, a calmness beyond his years was revealed in them.

My aunt was born into a noble family and was pampered from childhood. She later married into a noble family and lived a carefree life. She had no idea what it was like to be trampled on and have to watch your breath.

What dignity? It's all an illusion.

If her future husband comes from a humble background, she will simply have to go from having to be mindful of her own family's feelings to having to be mindful of everyone else's feelings.

All she wanted was for her husband's family to be powerful and influential, and for her descendants to enjoy wealth and prosperity.

If Qian Qiuchan, a woman from a poor family, could use her connections to marry into a wealthy family, why can't she?

Even if she were a concubine.

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Author's Note: Don't worry, the female supporting character gets along quite well with Tuantuan later on, and she truly gets what she wanted—her husband's family is incredibly powerful. [doge emoji with rose in hand]